Balance of Friday's column

Tony Arcabascio, owner of Tony Maja Products in Bayville, came through the storm in good shape. His Maja was safely out of the water at Lanoka Harbor Marina, and his bayfront home made it through the big high tide and northeast wind with no problem. He, and his wife Marie, were watching TV in bed upstairs, thinking they were safe, when the wind shifted to southeast and waves started blasting the house. Yet, they kept the water out with two pumps and sustained no significant damage. It was nothing less than a miracle that those pumps kept running as they lost power for only five minutes when virtually everyone else at the Shore was out of power long before that.

Cape May missed the worst of the storm, and Jim's Tackle reported boaters were catching stripers in the 20-pound class this week in 20-Foot Slough. Surfcasters can access the beaches there, and they were catching lots of blues on cut mullet and bunker.

Outdoor Writer Nick Honachefsky only recently returned from Florida after a stint as editor of Salt Water Sportsmen before having his home in Normandy Beach reduced to a pile of sticks by Sandy. All personal effects were lost, and a benefit for him has been scheduled for Nov. 28 at The Saint in Asbury Park.

The JCAA Sportsperson-of-the-Year Dinner scheduled for Sunday has been postponed due to the storm. When a new date is set, those with tickets that won't be able to make it can file for refunds. For information call Paul Turi at 609 660-2126.

Also lost to Sandy was the FCA Heroes Homecoming Tournament that had been scheduled for Veteran's day.

The force of the superstorm was best illustrated by the loss of Old Orchard Light that was swept off it's rock pile in Raritan Bay.

Nature also opened inlets at Mantoloking that have since closed. The force of water flowing through the largest may have been just what was needed to save Barnegat Bay rather than the millions being spent to make up for the lack of such flow. The DEP has a warning against eating fish and shellfish from northern Barnegat Bay due to wastewater overflows, but southern Barnegat Bay is O.K. The warning also applies to waters in northern urban areas plus Raritan and Sandy Hook bays.

Island Beach State Park is closed, and Betty & Nick's Tackle notes that it's undriveable in any case. That Seaside Park shop survived, and will reopen when customers can get there. Grumpy's Tackle in that town survived in "fine" shape as the waters peaked a foot short of flooding it.

The Long Beach Island Surf Classic continues through Dec. 2, if you can get to the water. As of Oct. 27 there had been only 18 stripers and four blues entered. The 48.63-pound striper that hit a clam for Joe Czapkowski of East Brunswick at the beginning of the contest at Barnegat Light looks even more unbeatable now. Martin Supsie of Forked River took the bluefish lead on Oct. 27 when he beached a 16.81-pounder on bunker at Barnegat Light. He also has two of the other four entries.

The Cape May Fishing Flea Market was moved back to Nov. 25 in the Elementary School at 921 Lafayette Street.